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Victims Still Paying Hackers After Ransomware Email Blocked

As of Tuesday evening, even after the email address had been blocked, the wallet listed in the message had nearly $8,000

The email address behind a ransomware attack spreading across the world has been blocked, leaving victims no way to receive unlocking codes for their files even if they pay the hackers, NBC News reported.

The Posteo mail provider said it shut down the email address listed with the "Petya" ransomware hack Tuesday, adding that it is working with the Federal Office for Information Security in Germany.

The virus began spreading Tuesday, locking up computer files and showing a black screen with red text that demanded $300 in bitcoin to unlock the files. As of Tuesday evening, even after the email address had been blocked, the wallet listed in the message had nearly $8,000.

If a user is hacked, a cybersecurity expert said not to restart the computer or pay the ransom. If the computer has already been restarted, the best option is to restore it from a backup.

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